31% INCREASE IN SHORT-TERM RENTALS IN GILPIN COUNTY?!?
Yes, my friends, this happened without anybody watching, and TOMORROW MORNING THE COMMISSIONERS WILL BE RENEWING THAT NUMBER as they vote for a new STR Ordinance! Originally, the commissioners allowed 118 STRs, but increased it to 155 units! The vote was 2-1 to pass the new ordinance. Hollingsworth and (currently seeking re-election) Susan Berumen voted for it's passage.
Tomorrow they intend to extend the 31% increase of STR units in our neighborhoods! WHY? DOES IT HELP US?!?
I am attaching the photos of Gilpin County website pages pertinent to the topic. Read it for yourself, please!
The first letter is the one I just submitted to the Gilpin County Commissioners the other day when I saw a post on Facebook!?! I am so sorry for the late notice!
If you have strong feelings about what they are about to do TOMORROW MORNING (SEPTEMBER 22, 2026), you may want to write an email to Jamie Boyle, Community Development Director, who has been very responsive to my contacts with her on the subject. The Commissioners, however do not publish a work number, and our county phone system is a circus (in my humble opinion)! Jamie will relay your messages, I’m sure. Email: https://gilpincounty.colorado.gov/
Phone: 303-515-4345.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 9:00 at the Historic Courthouse in Central. The vote on STRs is scheduled No. 6 on their agenda. You can also speak to the Commissioners over Zoom (the link is on the website at gilpincounty.colorado.gov. Click on BOCC MEETINGS, and you will see the link to join the meeting. They allow three minutes for folks to speak at the beginning and end of their meetings. Since this is a Public Hearing, you will also be able to comment during the hearing.
THIS COMMISSIONER BOARD CAN RETURN THE CAP TO THE ORIGINAL LEVELS, OR EVEN DISALLOW SHORT-TERM RENTAL PROPERTIES IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS! They will make a choice tomorrow to work FOR the people, or destroy the quiet enjoyment of our properties (which we are entitled to under the law).
Here are the proofs, and my letter to the Commissioners:
9/18/26
Dear Commissioners:
Short-term rental properties are businesses and should not be permitted in residential neighborhoods. BUT - since you have previously allowed them to exist in our residential neighborhoods, the neighbors have had many complaints about their effect on their ability to enjoy their properties.
Why in the world would you even consider increasing the number of allowable Short-Term Rental properties in our tiny county? To go from a cap of 118 STRs to 155 STRs is unnecessary, and unwanted by those who bought homes in RESIDENTIALLY-ZONED NEIGHBORHOODS.
This Board has already spent millions of dollars on a much larger food pantry than the community needed, just to help caterers in the county have closer access to a commercial kitchen, rather than do as they have been doing - renting the kitchen in Nederland.
The general public does not appreciate you spending money we don’t approve, or increasing STRs that will only reduce the enjoyment of our property, of which we have a right under the law.
Please do not increase the cap on STRs in this county. Enough is enough. I know your meeting is this Tuesday, September 22 where you plan to pass this bad ordinance - No. 6 on your agenda.
I am attaching a few pictures I took the other day of how we have come to live around STRs in the area. The people don’t know how to live up here, and we end up picking up their messes, or suffering the noise of their three-day vacations, and worse!
Would it hurt you too much to just STOP pleasing the small business owners and protect the residential taxpayers in the county?
Thank you,
Donna Okray Parman
Jamie Boyle responded with...it's 155 already! I searched for hours and found the place on the website where I knew I read the cap was 118! Here it is:
It was later in that document they changed the cap to 155. They plan to continue that hike tomorrow.
Here is the page where they declare the cap to be 155 in 2026:
And if you will abide me this, a personal note:
I hope you appreciate the update. It's been a long while since I have alerted to anything Gilpin County (since I was threatened with arrest for insisting the Clerk follow election law). This county has some major problems in leadership. Another problem is that many people feel as I do about "We the People" having a say, but they don't step out and say it. I understand, because some of my best friends cannot do so.
That's why I try and shed the light on Gilpin County for us, the regular folks who care about preserving this beautiful place we call home. The place we have to protect, or it'll be gone to the greed that comes with those who just want to make a buck. Most of us want to have a place to enjoy for ourselves, and to pass on to our grandchildren.
It starts now.
There is a lot more to come, inasmuch as there is an election in progress. I'll let you know what I know, and provide the receipts.
God bless you all,
Donna Okray Parman
Founder, The Gilpin Light
